“It was because she appeared so poor and miserable that I was weak enough to place the vest in her hands,” replied Mr. Lawson, in a less severe tone of voice.  “But it was an imposition in her to ask for work that she did not know how to make.”

“Brother Lawson,” said the old gentleman, who was a fellow member of the church, “we should not blame, with too much severity, the person who, in extreme want, undertakes to perform work for which he does not possess the requisite skill.  The fact that a young girl, like the one who was just here, is willing, in her extreme poverty, to labour, instead of sinking into vice and idleness, shows her to possess both virtue and integrity of character, and these we should be willing to encourage, even at some sacrifice.  Work is slack now, as you are aware, and there is but little doubt that she had been to many places seeking employment before she came to you.  It may be—­and this is a very probable suggestion—­that she did not come to you for work until she, and those who may be dependent upon the meagre returns of her labour, were reduced to the utmost extremity.  And, it may be, that even their next meal was dependent upon the receipt of the money that was expected to be paid for making the vest you hold in your hand.  The expression of her face as she turned away, and her slow, lingering step and drooping form, as she left the shop, had in them a language which told me of all this, and even more.”

A great change came over the tailor’s countenance.

“I didn’t think of that,” fell in a low tone from his lips.

“I didn’t suppose you did, brother Lawson,” said his monitor.  “We are all more apt to think of ourselves than of others.  The girl promised you the vest this evening?”

“Yes.”

“And, so far as that was concerned, performed her contract.  Is the vest made so very badly?”

Mr. Lawson took up the garment, and examined it more carefully.

“Well, I can’t say that the work is so very badly done.  But it is dreadfully soiled and rumpled, and is not as neat a job as it should be, nor at all such as I wished it.  The customer for whom it is intended is very particular, and I was anxious to please him.”

“All this is very annoying, of course; but still we should always be ready to make some excuse for the short-comings of others.  There is no telling under how many disadvantages the poor girl may have laboured in making this vest.  She may have had a sick mother, or a father, or sister to attend to, which constantly interfered with and interrupted her.  She may have been compelled, from this cause, to work through a greater part of the night, in order to keep her promise to you.  Under such circumstances, even you could hardly wonder if the garment were not made well, or if it came soiled from her hands.  And even you could hardly find it in your heart to speak unkindly to the poor creature, much less turn her away angrily, and without the money she had toiled for so earnestly.”